If It's Not 1 Thing It's Your Mother

Benjamin Davis Mother of a Story - Playlist for my Mother's Funeral

Benjamin Davis shares his poem, The Playlist At My Mother’s Funeral. We talk about how his mother would like a party when she dies which got him thinking of the playlist and how the songs that remind him of his mother and also track his memories with her throughout his childhood. Our conversation went from his rebellious teens and how he thought his parents showed great restraint for not throwing him in the basement and only feeding him scraps to the time when we all come to the realization that all the adults in our life are just winging it. 

He also talks about his book King of Fu. He describes it as a magical realism, memoir, poem. Where the adults are described as supervisors and only distinguished by their job description. Until he is in trouble and needs a protector. At this point his mom turns from Homeopathic Doctor to a magical being, Mother. Mom vanquishes bullies and helps him when he is in trouble, but when the trouble passes and he no longer needs her, she becomes Homeopathic Doctor again. This episode is filled with whimsy and coming of age realizations.

Benjamin Davis, is an American journalist and author of The King of FU, living in Saint Petersburg, Russia.  If you need anything from him, he’s likely antagonizing his girlfriend by publishing humorous anecdotes about their love life in P.S. I Love You.

Links to Benjamin Davis

Website: https://benjamindaviswriter.com

The King of FU: http://kingoffu.online 
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07D2YYL6S

Medium: https://medium.com/@benjamindaviswriter

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/benjamindaviswriter

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/benjamindavis

Instagram: @davis.benjamin.s

We’re telling stories

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

 If you like this episode help us out by sharing it with friends, rate and leave us a review. Thank you Lupe &Katie

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Tanya Davis Mother of a Story - Patterns Repeating... or not

We’re telling stories

We talk about the sadnesses that can be passed on to our children. Or sadness of our mother's that we sometimes take on as our own. How do we ease a burden and not take it on ourselves? Eternal questions. 

Tanya Davis is a writer, performer, and musician currently based in Montréal, Québec. She has released 4 albums and 2 books of poetry, including an illustrated version of the widely popular video poem on YouTube, How to be Alone (made in collaboration with Andrea Dorfman). She is past Poet Laureate of Halifax, Nova Scotia where she was also Artist in Residence at Dalhousie University's Faculty of Medicine. She is currently at work on a new collection of poems.

 If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Lupe Padilla Mitchell and Katie Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us. 

Follow us on social media or our website www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

Tess Wheeler Mother of a Story - Mother Courage

We’re telling stories

 

Tess Wheeler went to school in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and read English Literature at the University of York. After working as a financial editor in Hong Kong and London, she eventually surrendered to the pull of the beautiful Northumberland coast and returned home. Tess writes short stories and non-fiction articles for Medium and in 2017 she completed the first draft of her children’s novel, Codename Granbag. Two of her stories are included in anthologies called Starting Out and Fire, available on Amazon, and a compilation of her short fiction is due out before the end of 2018. She is currently finishing a second novel, Darkling Ford.

Tess is married with four children, three of whom have grown up and flown the nest. To fill the void left by diminishing ironing and housework, she is forced to spend her spare time writing, reading, beach-walking and wine-drinking.

 

 https://medium.com/@tesswheeler_22562

 

 

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week,hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

 

Follow us on social media or on our website

 

Tori Time Mother of a Story - Gypsy Grandma

We’re telling stories

Our writer this week shares her gypsy grandma with us and how she embraces the bits of free spirit she's inherited from her.

Tori Time is a writer, director, actress, and poet living in Los Angeles. After
graduating from The University of Southern California where she received
her Bachelor of Fine Arts in acting, Tori worked for renowned film director,
Sam Taylor-Johnson. Tori studies writing in Jack Grapes Method Writing
classes and is a member of the Los Angeles Poets and Writers Collective.
Tori wrote, directed, and stars in Girl on the Side, a short film which was
made with an all-female crew (release TBD) and is in the process of
adapting it into a feature film. Tori was a finalist for the Sundance New
Voices Lab in 2017 and can be seen on Season 2 of the Mick on Fox.
Tori’s latest poetry can be found in the October 2018 edition of On The
Bus. Tori is a writing mentor at WriteGirls to promote creativity and self-
expression to spotlight the power of a girl and her pen.

 

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

 

Follow us on social media or on our website

www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

 

Jon Wise Mother of a Story - A Mother Obscured - a different kind of ghost story

"To begin with, this is not a story about my mother. She and I were not to enter the picture for a number of years. It’s another mother's story- of a ghost, a shadowy presence that moved along the distant edges of my childhood, whose memory was in the custody of others reluctant to part with it or even let it see the light of day." -Jon Wise

Jon Wise lives in Metairie, Louisiana, a suburb of New Orleans, with his wife Gail and their Australian terrier Owen. He has called the Crescent City home for most of his life and is grateful that he could; though he retains an affinity for the northwest part of the state and the stories it contains. A lawyer by trade, Jon has often turned to writing as both a creative outlet and a way of coming to terms with the world and his brief place in it. He has published poetry and short stories in literary reviews in Louisiana and Arkansas.

 

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

 

Follow us on social media or on our website

www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

Cathie Borrie Mother of a Story - A different dementia story

We’re telling stories

 

Cathie Borrie, is our guest. She reads from her family memoir, the long Hello ~ memory, my mother, and me. Cathie Borrie finds magic and poetry in her mother’s language during her phase with Alzheimers. Find out the important lessons she has to teach us all, about the human experience and caregiving and the gift dementia makes possible.

Cathie received high praise from writers Maya Angelou and Lisa Genova. She is graduate of the Writer’s Studio at SFU in Vancouver, and is currently sculpting a poem from each of the 156 original folk and fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm (translated by Jack Zipes). 

 

“In many situations that are difficult and challenging, there’s always magic and always beauty.” Cathie Borrie interview, podcast If it’s Not 1 Thing, it’s Your Mother

 

the long Hello ~ memory, my mother, and me is published by Simon and Schuster in Canada, and Arcade (Skyhorse Publications) in the U.S.

 

Web site: http://www.cathieborrie.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cathie.borrie/

Twitter: @cathieborrie

 

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

 

Follow us on social media or on our website

www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

 

 

 

 

Kelly Grace Thomas Mother of a Story - How The Body Is Passed Down.

We're telling stories.

Kelly Grace Thomas, is our guest today. We are discussing body image, how it is passed down through the generations, and what we're teaching our kids about it, especially in our silent moments. We also explore when it is that parts of us begin to die. All because of the 2 poems that Kelly Grace reads for us today.

Kelly Grace Thomas is the winner of the 2017 Neil Postman Award for Metaphor from Rattle, a finalist for the Rita Dove Poetry Award, a two-time Pushcart Prize nominee and Best of the Next nominee. BOAT/BURNED, her first full-length collection, is forthcoming from YesYes Books. Kelly’s poems have appeared or are forthcoming in: The Los Angeles Review, DIAGRAM, Tinderbox, Nashville Review, Sixth Finch, Muzzle, PANK and more. . Kelly currently works to bring poetry to underserved youth as the Manager of Education and Pedagogy for Get Lit-Words Ignite. She is also the co-author of Words Ignite: Explore, Write and Perform, Classic and Spoken Word Poetry (Literary Riot). She lives in the Bay Area with her husband. For more please visit www.kellygracethomas.com

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of mother from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, we share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

Elya Braden Mother of a Story - How To Be A Bad Mother

A writing teacher told her that everyone is an expert at something. That is how this story came to be. She says you can't give what you didn't receive.

Elya Braden, former corporate lawyer and entrepreneur, is now a widely-published poet and collage artist. Her writing and art are expressions of her healing/spiritual journey that she shares to connect with others and open their hearts. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband and her cat. You can find her on the web at www.elyabraden.com.

Through the S.H.E. Fund (http://www.shecollegefund.org/), Elya is now sponsoring one of the girls of the Tasaru Rescue Center - a refuge in Kenya for Masai girls escaping FGM and childhood marriage. 

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell. Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

 

Alexis Rhone Fancher Mother of a Story - Cruel Choices

We're telling stories. 

Raw honest unapologetic episode about life after the death of this writer's son. She holds nothing back.

Alexis Rhone Fancher is an award winning poet and photographer. She has been published in Best American Poetry 2016, Rattle, Hobart, Verse Daily, Plume, Tinderbox, Cleaver, and elsewhere. Her books include: How I Lost My Virginity to Michael Cohen…, State of Grace: The Joshua Elegies, Enter Here, and Junkie Wife. 

Next up? The Dead Kid Poems, the follow up to State of Grace, which will be published in early 2019. 

Alexis’s photographs are published worldwide, including the covers of Witness, Heyday, and Pit-head Chapel, and a spread in River Styx. Since 2013, she has been nominated 22 times for the Pushcart Prize. Alexis is poetry editor of Cultural Weekly.

The poems in this episode are: 

Cruel Choices -winner of the Pangolin Prize, nominated for The Pushcart Prize (pub in ASKEW, and in Amarylis, UK)

Keeping Things Cold (pub in Diode)

Snow Globe (pub in The MacGuffin)

You can find Alexis Rhone Fancher here -

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/alexis.fancher 

Website: www.alexisrhonefancher.com

Links to her books:

Junkie Wife - Moontide

Junkie Wife 

Enter Here

State of Grace

How I lost my Virginity to Michael Cohen and Other Heart Stab Poems

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell.Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

Find out more about us at www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

 

 

 

Eric Mann Mother of a Story - Corporal Punishment

We're telling stories.

Spare the rod, spoil the child. A funny story about discipline and respect and his mother's unique brand of justice

Eric Mann is an author, actor, musician and non-profit executive director. He currently resides in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his wife of 38 years, Susan.

He is the author of the highly-popular book The Delmont Street Gang, which is described as "The Wonder Years" on steroids. A collection of short stories about a group of boys growing up in small-town Manchester, Connecticut, during the 60s and 70s, when "getting into trouble" meant skipping school or throwing snowballs at cars. These stories are true. The names have been changed to protect the morons. Hilariously funny and touching.”

Link to Book:

https://www.amazon.com/Delmont-Street-Gang-Eric-Mann/dp/1478149787/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1545101775&sr=8-1&keywords=the+delmont+street+gang

He is currently in the final stages of the sequel, titled Beyond Delmont Street, which will be released in Spring, 2019.

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell.Story is in our DNA. It's how we make sense of the world around us. We have so much to teach each other. We welcome you to rate and review us.

Find more about us at:

Insta @ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother

facebook.com/ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother

twitter @IfItsNot1Thing...Podcast

Molly Hagan Mother of a Story - No Regrets

 

We're telling stories.

In her piece for the podcast, No Regrets, Molly Hagan writes very honestly about her own decision Not to become a mom, and the surprising realization she had about her own mother. A woman she loved but pitied for having been “stuck” mothering 7 children.

Molly Hagan has amassed an extensive resume as an actor over the past 35 years. Molly recurs on Jane the Virgin, iZombie, the upcoming Apple TV Are you Sleeping with Octavia Spencer, and a new Netflix series No Good Nick, premiering in spring 2019.

Molly Hagan has been making a splash in film since Some Kind of Wonderful. But you also know her from Ringmaster, Election and Sully. And some of her favorite television gigs include: The Nutt House, Herman's Head, and Unfabulous. The Interactive movie The Garage Sale marked Molly’s debut as a writer/producer. 

Molly can be found at www.mollyhagan.com or on Twitter @mollyhagan, struggling with photography on Instagram @molly7hagan, and completely MIA @TheMollyHagan on Facebook.

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners, songwriters, stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell.

Find more about us at:

www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

Insta @ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother

facebook.com/ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother

twitter @IfNot1Thing

Anonymous Mother of a Story - Her Mother Can Never Know

We're telling stories.

Today’s guest is a best selling novelist and an all around wonderful writer. She wrote a beautiful piece for this podcast and then called us with a special request-- that we keep her identity anonymous.

Who doesn't speak to their mother?

What do you do when you have a toxic relationship with your mom? When the mother you want, is not the mother you have? When you are looking for courage or permission to put your well-being first, to live in your truth? What do you do when you don't want to hurt your mom, but continuing the relationship you two have set up is making you miserable? What lesson will you teach your kids if you disconnect? Or on the flip side, what will you teach them if you don't?

Self-love is not a bad word.

Life lessons are all around us. And one big lesson to be learned from today’s show is, ‘the way a mother handles her divorce can make or break her relationship with her children going forward’.

Every nugget of wisdom that can save us time along our journey of self awareness, in our effort to evolve into a higher self, is of value. And this episode is chocked full of those nuggets.

If it's not 1 Thing, explores the topic of 'mother' from every angle imaginable and some you have not thought of. Each week, hosts Katie Mitchell and Lupe Padilla Mitchell share a new story and have great conversations with the writers, many of whom are in fact not writers by trade. We have excerpts from best selling novels, memoirs, poetry award winners and songwriters, to stay at home moms, insurance brokers, teachers, actors, college students and beyond. Some famous. Some not at all. But they all have incredible tales to tell.

Find out more about us at:

www.ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother.com

on Facebook and Instagram @ifitsnot1thingitsyourmother or on twitter @IfNot1Thing